Jeff Wooldridge and Ryan Todd finish fourth at seventh at Sectional, headed to State meet
BY AARON OTTIS
SPORTS EDITOR
CENTRALIA – On Saturday, Senior Jeff Wooldridge and junior Ryan Todd did something that had never occurred in the history of Jersey Community High School.

The pair qualified for the IHSA State cross country race, finishing fourth and seventh overall at the 2A Centralia Sectional at Foundation Park.

So after some 45 years of not sending anyone to the State finals, Jersey was able to qualify two in the same season.

For Wooldridge, taking fourth place in 16:32 was extra sweet, given that he missed qualifying by only three seconds last season.

"I felt great," Wooldridge said. "My legs weren't hurting at all going into the race. It was a good day. It feels awesome. Since my freshman year, one of my big goals was to go to State in cross country. Now it's here."

Wooldridge said knew this was his only chance to redeem last season's heartbreaking finish.

"I knew I was going to have to run a good race, that I was most likely going to qualify," Wooldridge said. "But I knew that I had to get top-10 to guarantee it, and that wasn't going to be easy. Last year, it was maybe more of a challenge to qualify for State than it was this year because I had more of an outside shot."

In 2007, Wooldridge was one of many runners fighting for that seventh and final individual qualifying position. This season, he and Todd were very much in control of their own destiny.

In fact, Todd led the race for nearly two miles, with Wooldridge sitting in third place about five seconds behind. Todd eventually landed in seventh at 16:44.

With the weather granting an unseasonably warm day, the 3.1-mile course was generally dry.

"It is a tough course, maybe the toughest that we have all year," Wooldridge said. "It is up there with Mud Mountain in Edwardsville. The course is not smooth. It is really rough in places."

That rough terrain played a part in Todd dropping from first to seventh. He has been nursing an ankle injury, and pain appeared late in the race.

"The course is full of pot holes," Todd said. "I had a run in with one of those. The ankle injury really affected me in the second half of the race. When we went into the woods at the1.5-mile mark, I was still in the lead by about five seconds. After that, I could have pushed it, but I didn't want to risk injury. I would rather do well at State. I am very happy with my accomplishments this year. I could not have asked for a better season."

Jersey head coach Harold Landon said this race was a testament to Wooldridge and Todd's desire to win and ability to push themselves when it counts. It is another step in a path the two began down last summer.

"All the hard work that these guys put in over the summer is paying off," Harold Landon said. "At the start of the year, when the guys started their summer workouts, their goal was to make it to state. I'm glad that all the hard work paid off."

The new goal is finishing in the top-25 and bringing home All-State honors.

"We both want to be top-25," Wooldridge said. "It would be awesome to finish in the top 10. I think we have a chance at it because we ran a hard course at Sectional. We've already run the conditions that we are supposed to see Saturday. I think we are going to have an edge on some people because we have run that course once this season in the mud and rain."

Wooldridge and Todd will line up box 22 at Detweiller Park in Peoria. The Class 2A race begins at noon, and features a field of over 320 runners.